The call for conference papers has been issued for the 16th ICADTS International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety. The conference is scheduled to take place in Montréal, Québec, Canada from August 4-9, 2002. The venue will be the Palais des Congrès, Montréal's convention centre in the heart of the city. Abstracts for both oral and poster presentations are due by October 15, 2001, and can be in the following areas: driver characteristics, pharmacology and toxicology, epidemiology, rehabilitation, prevention driving performance, and emerging and cross-cutting issues. A cash prize will be awarded to the best poster. Notice of acceptance of abstracts will be made by January 15, 2002 and full papers are due by March 15, 2002 to allow for the published proceedings to be available at the conference. A reduced registration fee of $400 US for ICADTS members and $450 US for non-members is available until May 30th 2002. The registration fee includes the welcoming reception, lunches, the conference dinner and a copy of the conference proceedings.
The forms for submitting abstracts or additional information concerning the conference can be obtained from the conference web site at: www.saaq.gouv.qc.ca/t2002, by tel: 514-395-1808, fax: 514-395-1801, or email: info@opus3.com. Future editions of The Reporter will provide information on the social programs and conference and hotel registration.
One of the fathers of ICADTS turned 90 in February. This was celebrated with a seminar to honor this remarkable man. Several researchers from all the many decades of his active life (he is still very active doing research in the field of breath testing) made presentation about all of his achievements. This was a difficult task for the presenters since Professor Goldberg has a memory which is sharper than anyone else´s. This meant that he frequently corrected what was said. Immediate Past President of ICADTS, Hans Laurell represented our organization and talked about Professor Goldberg´s role in the area of alcohol and road safety and in the formation of ICADTS.
A new study by Wagenaar, O'Malley and LaFond evaluated the effects on drinking and driving of lowered allowable BAC limits for drivers younger than 21 years in 30 states between 1984 and 1998. The study found that the frequency of driving after any drinking and driving after 5 or more drinks declined 19% and 23%, respectively. Lower BAC limits did not affect the overall amount of drinking or the total number of miles driven. The findings contradict opponents of lower BAC policies who have argued that the laws target lower-risk moderate drinkers, but have little effect on higher-risk drivers. The findings were based on self-reports from a cross-sectional sample of more than 5000 high school seniors in 30 states surveyed before and after BAC limits were implemented.
Despite the substantial benefits of these laws to date, the authors found that there is evidence that implementation of lower BAC limits for teenaged drivers in the United States has been less than optimal. A 1997 Gallup survey found that 36% of the driving-age public reported that they did not know whether their state had a different BAC level for drivers younger than 21 years, and only 18% of those who thought the legal limit was different for minors knew the correct BAC level. A past study by Blomberg found that the addition of a public information campaign more than doubled the effect of the law passed in Maryland. The significant reductions already achieved by these laws could be substantially increased if improved information and enforcement campaigns were undertaken. (Source: American Journal of Public Health, May 2001, Vol. 91, No. 5)
In contrast to the findings described above, a study carried out by Everett, Shults, Barrios, Sacks, Lowry, and Oeltmann found no overall declines in driving after drinking. In this analysis of national survey data, the rate of driving after drinking among young people in 9th through 12th grades nationwide remained stable from 1991 to 1997. (Source: Journal of Adolescent Health 2001, 28:228-234.)
Examining the differences between these two studies, it appears that lowered BAC limits for young drivers are an important component of efforts to reduce impaired driving in this population.
The University of California, Santa Barbara has won the annual College and University Drinking and Driving Prevention grand prize award for its innovative efforts to reduce DUI and BUI (bicycling) on campus. The competition is sponsored by the Automobile Club of Southern California and the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention. The goal of the annual competition is to recognize programs and activities in higher education to prevent or reduce campus drinking and driving problems. The competition is open to post-secondary institutions in selected Western US states (CA, NM, TX, HI, UT, NV).
UCSB received its award for its comprehensive "Students Teaching Alcohol and other drug Responsibility (STAR) program, as well as a number of community based programs. State prizes of $1000, were won be Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Texas A&M University, Southwest Texas State University, University of New Mexico and San Jose State University.
More information about the winning programs can be obtained from the Auto Club's web site at http://www.aaa-calif.com or by contacting Steven A. Bloch, Ph.D. at AAA at Tel: 714-885-2313 or Email: bloch.steven@aaa-calif.com.
New guides are now available to help address underage drinking.
The National Association of Governors' Highway Safety Representatives (NAGHSR) recently published How To Guides on Underage Drinking Prevention. The new guides were developed in partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as a part of NAGHSR's Underage Drinking Prevention Project (UDPP) that was launched in 1995.
The Community Guides take into account what was learned throughout the project and are intended to assist other advocates who want to implement a program in their area. The new publications were designed to assist communities not only with the underage drinking problem, but with any community-based advocacy effort. The guides advise local advocates on how to deal with the following issues: Coalition Building, Needs Assessment/ Strategic Planning, Enforcement, Prevention/Education, Public Policy, Media Relations, Evaluation, Self-Sufficiency and Resources.
The UDPP has been an extensive six-year effort to assist local communities in developing, implementing and evaluating new programs or strengthening existing underage programs. Multi-year programs were set into place in five communities throughout the country, four of which continue today.
You can request a copy of the guides by writing to: NHTSA, 400 7th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590 or by faxing a request to (202) 493-2062. To learn more about the Underage Drinking Prevention Project, visit: www.statehighwaysafety.org/projects.
A second guide, Law Enforcement and Higher Education: Finding Common Ground To Address Underage Drinking on Campus, was prepared by Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), in support of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Enforcing the Underage Drinking Laws Program. The guide describes some of the potential conflicts and barriers that may be encountered by college/universities and law enforcement agencies as they try to collaborate. It suggests strategies that can help identify common ground and areas of mutual support. The guide can be used to foster clearer communications among campuses and the surrounding communities - especially the law enforcement agencies in the communities, anticipate and overcome potential barriers to cooperative action and suggests effective strategies that can be supported both by higher education and by law enforcement agencies.
The guide also lists numerous other sources of information and strategies to reduce underage drinking and youth access to alcohol, including A Law Enforcement Guide to False Identification. A copy of these guides, or other reports on this topic, can be obtained, on line, from the Center for Enforcing the Underage Drinking Laws at PIRE at: www.udetc.org. You can also request a copies of the publications via email at: udetc@pire.org, or by calling 1-877-335-1287 (toll-free).
A study by Mattsson, Eriksson and Sjögren of the Department of Forensic Medicine, Umeå University in Northen Sweden, found that a high percentage of injured drunken drivers hospitalized for their injuries, did not escape the legal consequences of impaired driving. Eighty five percent of these hospitalized drivers testing positive for alcohol were convicted of DUI. This is in stark contrast with the experience in the United States, were conviction rates were generally below 17 percent.
In the present investigation, blood samples were analyzed for 125 injured, hospitalized motor vehicle drivers. This amounted to 80 percent of all hospitalized drivers at the University Hospital in Northern Sweden during the study period.
The high conviction rate in Sweden is probably due largely to the fact that the police are automatically dispatched to a crash scene at the same time as the ambulance. Police officers at the scene can thus decide if there is a suspicion of drunken driving. Since impairment is often difficult to distinguish from injury in the injured patient, blood samples for judicial purposes are requested liberally in cases of motor vehicle crashes. The authors point out that since the number of tested patients is small and they were only from a rural area in Northern Sweden, the results may not represent what is occurring throughout Sweden. (Source: Journal of Traffic Medicine, 28: 1-2, 2000)
At the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting in January, James Lange and Robert Voas, both of Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, presented some findings from their study of a successful community program, "Operation Safe Crossing." The findings they presented provide useful information on the use of systematic data collection with media advocacy to support the development and implementation of a traffic safety and public health program.
Each Friday and Saturday night, between four and seven thousand young people cross from San Diego, California into Tijuana, Mexico to take part in the night life where the legal drinking age is 18 rather than 21 and where alcohol is cheap and plentiful. These young people are exposed to all the risks of excessive drinking in a risky setting, including assaults, robbery, unwanted sexual encounters, etc. In addition, they often drive up to 90 miles home in an intoxicated state. In response to this problem, "Operation Safe Crossing" was developed, with an initial emphasis on increased drinking and driving enforcement near the border and more careful checking to ensure that young people under 18 were not crossing into Mexico unless accompanied by a parent. Enforcement efforts were supported by media events designed to attract attention and support and enhance deterrence. The program also worked with businesses in Tijuana to change practices.
From the beginning, data from surveys of border crossers became an important source of information for organizing and managing the program. The data were used to help plan countermeasure activities, support program operations, and evaluate effectiveness. Results from the surveys were useful in gaining community support and galvanizing action. During the study period from June 1997 to November 1999, the number of underage drinking pedestrians declined on average by 7.7% each month, for a total reduction of 51.2%.
A study of the effects of benzodiazepines on the performance of a driving simulation task was carried out by the Swedish Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) and reported by Törnos, Vikander, Ahlner, and Jönsson. The researchers used a sample of 20 patients who had been taking prescription benzodiazepines for years as compared to a matched sample of non-users. The subjects took part in a simulated driving task, made to be monotonous and of relatively long duration (120 km.). Laboratory tests of simple reaction time, short-term memory capacity, and choice reaction time were also administered. Half of the subjects in each group were also given alcohol to examine the effects of the interaction of alcohol with the benzodiazepine. The BAC level of the subjects ranged from about .025 to .04 percent.
The drug users performed somewhat worse than the control group on simple reaction time and on short-term memory. There was no noticeable difference between the user group and the control group regarding brake reaction times or lateral position variation in the driving simulation test. The users had greater speed variation than the control subjects. The benzodiazepine users and the control subjects were not found to have been differently affected by alcohol intake on any of the driving measures, though the researchers caution that the alcohol levels were rather low.
The researchers concluded that long-term benzodiazepine users who take their medication according to prescriptions do not appear to constitute a significant traffic safety problem. The decrement in reaction time and the increased speed variation may have some traffic safety significance, but it was not apparent in this study. (Source: Journal of Traffic Medicine, 28: 1-2, 2000)
In a paper presented at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting in January, Dr. Ralph Hingson analyzed the potential of alcohol treatment ouside of the criminal justice system to reduce impaired driving. While mandatory alcohol abuse screening and treatment has an effect on recidivism and crashes, at least two thirds of drivers convicted of impaired driving or involved in alcohol related fatal crashes have never been arrested before. Studies have indicated that brief interventions given to persons injured under the influence of alcohol result in significant reductions in impaired driving-one study found a 23 percent reduction.
Despite this potential mode of intervention, only 15% of people who meet alcohol dependence criteria who were hospitalized in the past year for medical problems received any alcoholism counseling or treatment. Fewer than one third of primary care physicians say they administer standard alcohol or drug use screening instruments to patients. Fewer than 20% of trauma centers routinely test or screen injured patients for alcohol problems. In fact, 38 states in the US permit insurance companies to deny medical coverage to patients who were injured under the influence. This is a disincentive for physicians to explore alcohol problems with injured patients.
Dr. Hingson concluded that alcohol screening, brief intervention, and treatment outside the criminal justice system have great potential to reduce impaired driving. Barriers to these activities need to be reduced and mechanisms to promote these activiteies and evaluate their impact should be pursued.
The ICADTS Executive Board recently elected new members to ICADTS. They include: Dr. Lance Silverman, Dr. Randall Baselt and Dr. Anne McCartt of the United States; Dr. Thomas Meier-Faust and Dr. Mark Vollrath of Germany; Dr. Andrew Mark Bentley of the United Kingdom; Dr. Bernard Boeuf of France, Dr. Majda Zorec-Karlovsek of Slovenia and Dr. Stefan Siegrist of Switzerland.
Each new member was nominated by two active ICADTS members and approved by the Membership Committee and the Executive Board. In addition, Dr. Andreas Manns of Germany was approved as an Affiliate Member.
Colleagues working in the field of alcohol, drugs and traffic safety who are interested in becoming members of ICADTS, can obtain information on ICADTS membership and an application, by checking the ICADTS Web Site or by contacting the ICADTS, Secretary, Dr. Elizabeth Wells-Parker, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi 39762, Fax: 662-325-7966 or by email at: bwparker@ssrc.msstate.edu. The entire membership process can now be conducted on-line. Current dues for ICADTS are $60 per year.
June 10-13, 2001
Canadian Multi-Disciplinary Road Safety Conference, London, Ontario, Canada
Contact the Multi-Disciplinary Accident research Team, University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Engineering Science, Room 2162, Elborn College, London, ON N6A 5B9, Canada, Email: kmcclaff@julian.uwo.ca
January 13-17, 2002
80th Annual Meeting of the U. S. Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC USA
Special alcohol and drug sessions will be featured. Meetings of the TRB Committee on Alcohol, Other Drugs and Transportation and the ICADTS Executive Board will also be scheduled.
Contact Dr. Richard Pain, Tel: 202-334-2960, Fax: 202-334-2003, Email: rpain@nas.edu.
August 4-9, 2002
16th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety, T'02, Montreal, Québec, Canada
For information visit the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec Web site: www.saaq.gouv.qc.ca/t2002